container veg

And now for the second half of the monster progress post.

The view outside:

Planted two types of French marigold, Naughty and Red Marietta. Supposedly the nasty little aphids don't like them, but I wish they'd grow a bit faster. Repotted the lavenders and they've gone from grey to green and lo and behold, the first ever flower bud has appeared at last. Next to those are this year's purple and red carrots. Then the Swiss chard, some peaky coriander from Tesco, rock samphire that's just out from under a cloche, a cute little sage plant and some possibly sickly chives. — Planted two types of French marigold, Naughty and Red Marietta. Supposedly the aphids don’t like them, but I wish they’d grow a bit faster. Repotted the lavenders and they’ve gone from grey to green and lo and behold, the first ever flower bud has appeared at last. Next to those are this year’s purple and red carrots. Then the Swiss chard, some peaky coriander from Tesco, rock samphire that’s just out from under a cloche, a cute little sage plant and some possibly sickly chives.

The purple carrots we planted too late last year are having a bit of a renaissance after being dug up and spaced out a bit better in the grow bag, and the compost replaced with better soil. Don't think the roots have actually grown much. Have read that year old carrots aren't good for much except for seed. Which is fine. — The purple carrots we planted too late last year are having a bit of a renaissance after being dug up and spaced out a bit better in the grow bag, and the compost replaced with better soil. Don’t think the roots have actually grown much. Have read that year old carrots aren’t good for much except for seed. Which is fine.

The folks have several giant fennel bushes in their garden wilderness and because they spread ridiculously they gave me a couple that seemed to have died, but one has valiantly come back. (The other, alas, remains quite dead). — The folks have several giant fennel bushes in their garden wilderness and because they spread ridiculously they gave me a couple that seemed to have died, but one has valiantly come back. (The other, sadly, remains quite dead).

The corner of neglect. Luckily there's not a lot to be done with the potatoes we planted in Feb after cleaning out the failed bag from last year. They shot up very quickly and we managed to do the covering up with soil thing as they grew. Also in shot, some ugly brown storage containers and one of the balcony chairs that could really do with a facelift. A project for the coming months I think. — The corner of neglect. No amount of swanky filters can cover that up unfortunately. Luckily there’s not a lot to be done with the potatoes we planted in Feb after cleaning out the failed bag from last year. They shot up very quickly and we managed to do the covering up with soil thing as they grew. Also in shot, some ugly brown storage containers and one of the balcony chairs that could really do with a facelift. A project for the coming months I think.

The Swiss chards we planted in one of these troughs all died when they went outside so decided to space the onions out a bit better. Looking a bit weedy though, think it was a bit cold and stormy when they went outside a month ago and this past week have had too much sun and not enough water. Oops! — Almost didn’t include this, the shame. The Swiss chards we planted in one of these troughs all died when they went outside so decided to space the surviving onions out a bit better. Looking a bit weedy though, think it was a bit cold and stormy when they went outside a month ago and this past week have had too much sun and not enough water.

But on a brighter note:

Spotted! Heron having a bit of an aul preen across the stream.

Found some cute little solar powered beach house lights at Homebase. Might put them outside to replace the broken ladybird and bee lights from last year.

And finally:

Bonus! Recently found a collection of fossils I had when I was little. Seems a shame to have them tucked away in a box. Looking for ideas how to display them nicely... — Bonus! Not stuff with stems, but recently found my fossil collection from when I was little. Once knew what all these actually were. Seems a shame to have them tucked away in a box. Looking for ideas how to display them in our Ikea FABRIKÖR cabinet (can just see it above)

Signing off for now, coming up soon, unnecessary balcony cooking (and hopefully not setting fire to the potato plants) (strictly speaking, it’s diy camping stoves and we’re probably not going to cook anything, just attempt to boil some water perhaps to prove that we can, but to all intents and purposes – balcony cooking). Also, some ridiculous attempts at keeping plants alive and watered when you’re going away and are too wimpy to ask the neighbours.

We made a bit of a start at some damage control last week, but here’s a walk through what we’ve got to work with.

The view from the inside
So the apartment is in a bit of a mess from the planting and re-potting that’s been happening. What we’ve got here are loads of coffee plants, our rescue poinsettia found by the bin in our basement, the red amaryllis that’s just shooting up, a couple of lemon plants, two jalapeño peppers with curled twisted leaves from last year’s aphid horror, our two tomato plants (black cherry) that survived the aphids and were brought in to the windowsill in a grow bag over winter, recently re-potted, a little tomato shoot in a big pink pot (black krim) and our Medusa looking aloes that we inherited when we moved in. There are a couple of black planters here too with Borettana onions and Swiss chard (bright lights).

The perch

Moving outside you can see the winter winds did their worst and gave our little balcony a battering.

The grow bag contains our purple carrots that were planted a bit too late last year, we probably should have thinned them out when they sprang to life. When we finally got the courage to clamber out a couple weeks ago, we picked off the thick blanket of dead leaves and found dozens of teeny tiny carrots fit for a doll’s house. But alive! (ish) We took out the biggest to eat (about 4″ or 5″) and spaced the others a bit better back in the bag. More on those another day.

Not sure if the football boots are alive.

Yes so we have our work cut out for us. The table and chairs were donated by a neighbour and we’ve vague intentions of doing them up and making them beautiful (not all that into the frosted chrome effect… Dermot Bannon would not approve…)

We had ladybird and bee solar lights that formerly adorned our tent at Electric Picnic but neither they nor the bamboo fencing withstood the gales. There’s an old grow bag with green goo inside that needs a good scrub that housed our potatoes last year. We made the mistake of planting them up then heading off to Glastonbury on what was a bit of a scorcher of a week. When we got back they had shot up about half a metre without giving us the chance to gradually top up with soil. Last week I finally dared to empty the bag and you can see the old stalks and some of the teeny potatoes that now have little stalks sitting in the red windowbox. I planted up a new green grow bag with the ones that looked most promising.

You’ll also see our gnarled lavender, probably dead or dying fennel herb, probably dead purple tiger chillies (were never very healthy but have valiantly stayed alive for 3 years), assortment of dead herbs (basil…something else…) some garlic planted before the winter that’s still got some green going on.

So that’s where we’re at, lots to clear up, order to restore.

balcony d8

Failing better at our balcony garden in sunny Dublin 8

Progress 2

A tour of the winter’s carnage